1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for indicating the status of a display object by providing an audible cue when the display object is selected or otherwise identified.
2. Background
Computer interfaces, such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), may display various types of objects such as text, pictures, filenames, icons, cursors, and similar objects. A particular computer interface may display multiple objects of different types or classes. Similarly, informational sources such as web pages or web sites often display multiple types of objects to the user. In certain instances, it may be desirable to provide a system that permits the user of the computer to easily distinguish between different types of displayed objects. For example, when displaying multiple filenames, it may be desirable to identify the type of file associated with each filename (e.g., text file, data file, executable file, audio file, or video file). By identifying the type of file associated with each filename, the user is able to determine how the file may be used and which programs can use the file.
Various systems have been developed to display information to a user regarding the type of file associated with a filename or other object. For example, an icon or other graphical image may be displayed adjacent to the filename to indicate the file type (such as a speaker next to an audio file or a page of text next to a text file). However, the icon or graphical image occupies a portion of the display, thereby reducing the area available for displaying other information.
Other known systems use different colors to identify the type or status of an object on the display. For example, web browsers used to browse the Internet represent navigational links to other web pages in different colors. The color associated with a particular navigational link is based on whether the web page identified by the link is new to the user (i.e., not yet viewed or explored by the user). Thus, the user can determine whether a particular web page was previously visited by determining the color associated with the link to the web page. However, this color system is not helpful to the user if the user's display is monochrome or the user is colorblind.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system for indicating the status of a display object without requiring the use of visual identifiers such as different colors or graphical images.